The defeated president had spent months falsely crying election fraud. His allies in right-wing media relentlessly spread conspiracy theories, hammering at the nation’s confidence in its own democracy. It came to a head one day in early January, as thousands of the president’s supporters stormed the seat of government, trampling police, breaking windows and doors and parading triumphantly through the halls of the Capitol.
The violent mob attack in Brazil’s capital city on Sunday wasn’t merely a coincidental echo of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection in the U.S. Capitol. In real ways, it was inspired by the U.S. attack, patterned after it and even instigated with the help of some of the same Donald Trump allies who helped light the fuse here.
Exactly two years and two days after Trump and his mob attempted to prevent the peaceful transfer of power in Washington, thousands of Brazilian protesters loyal to defeated ex-President Jair Bolsonaro attacked Brazil’s Congress and other government buildings. The rioters wrought extensive damage. Hundreds were arrested.
